<^Vl&w6 ? The Hoke County News - Established 1928 VOLUME LXIX NUMBER 6 RAEFORD. HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA - journal The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905 S8 PER YEAR THURSDAY. JUNE 9, 1977 Around Town BY SAM C. MORRIS The weather was perfect over the weekend and most everyone could get outside and enjoy themselves. The storm that came through Monday afternoon and evening brought heavy rain and also high winds. We haven't heard of any hail so far but the temperature has dropped and this is a sign of some hail in the area. Graham Clark of Clark's Gulf on US 401 By-pass said Monday night that the wind broke the plate glass window at his station about 5:30 o'clock Monday afternoon. From all forecasts the coming weekend should be perfect for * outdoor activities. ? ? * Bill Upchurch was by the office last Thursday and was showing me a picture of fish he said were caught at Santee-Cooper. Bill said he and David Upchurch caught the fish last Wednesday. They were rock fish and it was hard to tell exactly how many were in the picture. 1 told Bill that anyone could get someone to furnish fish for him to have his picture taken. This brought forward the following: "Come out to the car and I will show you the fish." I got up and went outside and in a cooler were some of the largest rocks I have ever seen. So Upchurch proved his point. 1 didn't ask him when the fish fry would be? ? * ? Someone asked me last week how the vegetables were coming into the r office after the item in this column last week. All I can say is that the rains must have drowned out the vegetable crop. * * * Dale Teal had the program at the Raeford Kiwanis Club last week and presented Anne Hostetler and Ann Wright of the local newly formed Arts Council. Both of these ladies gave some timely and interesting facts about the Arts Council, both local and statewide. Teal got mixed up somewhat in his introduction concerning "Agri culture and Culture" but President Julian King straightened him out after the ladies spoke. ? ? * To all the people that were going to have Elwood Avenue changed to Morris Street, you can forget about it. as the flow of traffic will return to the old Elwood in a few days. Thanks for the thought anyway! * * ? Since the industrial plants have come to Raeford and Hoke County, we have people move into the community and move out at regular intervals. Some of these folks work ? and live here and you hear very little about them. Others will get into the civic clubs and become involved in all types of community ? activities and they are missed when they leave. This is true to form because of the families that have been here for years, some become active in community affairs and others just live from day to day and as the sand "shift with the wind." You know these people and we don't have to call names of old or new residents of the community. There is one family that I have become acquainted with over the past several years that hasn't made the headlines or the news as much as others but will be missed in this community as they depart for Virginia. They are David and Sally Sease. David has been working for Knit-Away and Summerfield for the past few years and he and his wife and family live in Thomas field. My association with David was in the Raeford Presbyterian : Church and I don't believe anyone did more for their church in such a short time as David and Sally have. 1 know from this association that , all his other activities must have been super. They will be missed by many people in this community but our loss will be a gain for some Virginia city Best wishes to the David Sease family. FRAGMENTS -? Billy Norton examines the fragments of glass left from a plate glass window at Clark 's Gulf Service Station. High winds whipped through the county Monday night leaving minor damage like the broken window, overturned patio furniture and broken tree branches in its wake. | Photo by S.H. Aplin] Commissioners Eye Doubling Of Salaries County commissioners are ex pected to vote themselves pay increases which will double their salaries when they adopt the new budget later this month. County manager T.B. Lester has recommended in his proposed 1977-78 budget that the chairman and the four other commissioners be paid a set amount for each meeting. Currently, the members are paid a flat amount annually -- $9b0 for the chairman and $720 for the others. If the plan is adopted, and no commissioners has yet indicated he will vote against it. the chairman will receive $70 for each meeting and the others will get $50. Based on 30 meetings per year, chairman John Balfour will receive $2,100 yearly. The other commis sioners. Danny DeVane. Neill McPhatter. Ralph Barnhart and James Hunt, will receive $1,500 yearly. Lester, who receives $1,200 yearly to serve as clerk to the board, has not requested any increase for himself for that job. although he has requested a $750 pay increase in his $15,000 salary as county manager and finance officer. Hoke County commissioners met for regular meetings only once a month until the spring of 1976 when they voted to go to twice-a month regular meetings. Also affecting the budget of the governing body is* a proposed increase in the travel allowance. The recommended total in the travel fund for the coming year is S8.000 up from S2.000 budgeted this year. The travel fund is being increased to allow more attendance at state and national conferences. Also, the 12 cents per mile paid to board members for using their cars will rise to 15 cents per mile, a change proposed for all county departments. The travel fund for commission ers in this year's budget has already been exhausted, Lester said, and the commissioners going to Detroit, Mich., for the National Association of Counties annual convention July 24-27 will have to pay now out of their own pockets and be reim bursed later out of the 1977-78 budget. . All of the commissioners except Balfour and Barnhart announced plans to go to the Detroit meeting and Lester will also go. School Board Approves More Faculty Shifts, State Cutback Blamed The Hoke County Board of Education approved more faculty transfers Monday night after School Supt. G. Raz Autry advised the board members that the state had reduced the teacher allotment for the high school and increased the allotment for the elementary grades. Autry said that the state had cut eight teachers from the high school for the coming year because the projected attendance figure dropped to 1,295 pupils. Autry said he had expected a figure closer to 1 .500 pupils. "The state said we really had three more than we were supposed to have last year. We figured on losing three and this is really a staggering blow." Autry said. "It looks like a lot of wholesale transferring, but we're just trying to keep them working in a slot. What most folks don't understand, the state doesn't furnish librarians, uidance counselors or principals," e said. In response to a question from board chairman Bobby Gibson. Autry said the schools would not suffer from the state changes because the differences could be made up with locally-paid and "categorized" faculty. The following transfers were approved: Sarah B. Ropp to Hoke High. David Locklear and Cecelia Ropp to Upchurch. Ellen Harris. Sharmaine Butler and Andrena Scott to Raeford Elementary and Pamela Fabricius to Scurlock. These moves are in addition to the transfers approved previously: assistant principal M.H. Williams, guidance counselor Joann Moses and Sarah McCallum to Hoke High; guidance counselors Bobby Locklear and Faye Jordan, along with Eva Snow, to Upchurch; and Calvin Pope, Wilson Chavis. and Patricia H. McNeill to Scurlock. The following new teachers were appointed for next year; Patricia Livingston, Cynthia McNeill, Kim Jordan. Malinda G. Leggett, Mary Anna Teal. Gwendolyn Pittman, Betty J. Gholston, Christine Mc Cormick. Charlene Patterson, Bev erly Bowden, Sharon Currie, Joann (See SCHOOL BOARD, Page 15) i Massage Parlor Threat Worries County Board Irate Taxpayer Wants To Find Out * System ' County commissioners confront ed an irate taxpayer who com plained he has been denied access to public records in the tax collector's office and after a heated exchange of words, commissioners agreed to allow the man to continue his research if it didn't disrupt the office. Harold Brock, an executive with the House of Raeford Turkey Farms Inc. and a former chairman of the Hoke County Board of Elections, appeared before the commissioners Monday morning at their request to iron out the problem. County manager T.B. Lester said that Brock had become angered when Tax Collector Elizabeth Liv ingston attached his bank account earlier for non-payment of 1975 and 1976 property taxes. The amount Brock owed was S455, according to Lester. Brock subse quently hired a woman to visit the tax office and examine the files for several hours a day for a period of two weeks, according to county attorney Charles Hostetler. Lester said the demands for information had become a form of harassment and Brock had not stated what his purpose was. "We realize these are public records but there has to be some controls on it so it doesn't interfere with the business of the office." chairman John Balfour told Brock. "We put up with it for two weeks. You need to get a lawyer, or an accountant, somebody who knows what they're doing." Lester said. "If you show me your purpose, I'll be glade to help you look up anything you want," Livingston told Brock. "I don't have to justify nothing to you," Brock told her. "What I do with it (the information) is im material. I'm here to request permission to examine all of the records and I haven't been given access to all of them," he said. "Are you saying you've been discriminated against because your bank account was attached?" Bal four asked him. "I'm saying I have been discrim inated against because I haven't been allowed to examine the rec ords," Brock responded. "If you had paid your taxes, though," Balfour said. "You got your interest, you made more money," Brock said. Brock said that the evidence he had gathered so far tended to show that there was no "system" fol lowed in collecting taxes. "If you have a set of guidelines for collecting past due taxes, you're not following them. There's no consistency. The first set of records I asked for was the copies of the summonses. I was told she doesn't have them," Brock said. "There's no law that requires she keep a copy of bank attachment and garnishee (orders)," Lester said. Brock told the group that he was only seeking four figures -- the record of the tax assessment, the date it was due, the date it was paid and the amount paid, including any penalties or interest -- and that he wished to go back over the records from 1973 to the current year. "My contention is that some where down the line you take action (on collection). You have a respon sibility to do it on a uniform basis and I intend to establish just what the system is and how it is done," Brock said. "It don't make no difference how it's done as long as it's done as part of a system," he said. Lester, and Livingston, disa greed, tellinp Brock that collections are imposstble to do uniformly because not everyone has a bank account or a job. West Hoke Firemen Will Meet 14th The West Hoke Fire Department will hold a meeting Tuesday, June 14 at 8 p.m. at the fire station. Election of officers will be conducted and all members are urged to attend. Brock said he figured 30-60 days to complete his work with one person doing the research, since it would be a matter of cross checking with old files in the basement of the courthouse. Brock complained that the tox scrolls do not reflect late payment of taxes. If a taxpayer pays 1973 taxes in 1975, the payment would not be shown on the scrolls. The payment would have to be verified through the ledger card or in the receipts. However, Lester pointed out, that following each year's audit, the active files are closed out and the tax receipts are transferred to the courthouse where they are kept for four to five years. Lester and Hostetler both stressed to Brock that this month and next are the busiest times of the year for the tax office and Livingston could not allow anyone to "rummage" through the current year receipts because the receipts are the same as cash and the tax collector is responsible for any losses. Brock said he would have his worker halt on June 24, at Lester's request, since that is the time the audit will start and the ledger cards will have to be posted, and not resume his research until the audit period ends. One Wants One-Way Anyway For lack of a second, a motion to leave Elwood Ave. as a one-way street died Monday night at the city council meeting. Councilman Sam C. Morris made the motion in front of a group of about ten spectators. Mayor John K. McNeill Jr. declared that an earlier decision by the council to change the street to two-way will stand. No date for the change has been set. Some discussion was heard from the audience which consisted of merchants who support the two way decision and mothers of chil dren attending a nursery school on Elwood who oppose the change. According to the city manager's assistant, Andrea Garrison, the councilmen did not participate in the discussion. In other council business, coun cilmen heard a request for curbing on N. Main St. from Seventh Ave. to the city limits. The request will be held over for consideration during the budget meeting sche duled for next Monday night at 7:30 p.m. The Chamber of Commerce sub mitted a request for $4,000. A decision will be delayed until the Chamber presents an itemized budget Monday night. . Councilmen also turned down a request for a rate increase for the North Carolina Cable T. V. Co. The cable company had asked for an increase of 50 cents on the first outlet and 15 cents on the second outlet. City Manager Robert Drum wright presented an ordinance for the annexation of the area on Cole Ave. between U.S. 401 and College Dr. The ordinance was approved. The area is the site of the apartment complex now under construction. Councilmen were informed that the state requires that a no-parking ordinance be put into effect 350 ft. from the corners before they can mark Harris Ave. at Magnolia for left turn lanes. Councilmen agreed that further discussion was needed on this agenda item. The council granted a taxi permit for a taxi stand to be located on a car lot belonging to Billy Monroe. Since the stand will be ouside the city limits, the permit was granted with the restriction that the cab can enter the city only for a telephone request and may not park or drive in the limits soliciting passengers. County commissioners agreed to consider the adoption of a massage parlor ordinance Monday after discussing the possibility of such parlors moving into Hoke County because there is no current ordinance. County manager T.B. Lester said a massage parlor could open up anytime here by paying only a privilege license of $10 - $20. Commissioner Danny DeVane expressed concern that efforts in neighboring Cumberland County to "clamp down" on such businesses might lure them here. County Atty. Charles Hostetler presented a copy of the Durham city ordinance regulating massage parlors and characterized it as one which has "held up" to court challenges. The Durham ordinance requires a licensing fee, declaration of ownership and licensing of mas seuses, including a medical ex amination and disclosure of prior arrests for sexual offenses. No vote on the issue was taken Monday, but commissioners re quested Hostetler to draw up an ordinance based on the Durham code for consideration at their next meeting in July. In other business, the board ordered a correction made in the minutes of the last meeting con cerning the vote regarding Board of Alcohol Control (ABC) enforce ment. The original minutes had read that the board voted unanimously "to ask" the local ABC board to use additional revenue from the liquor store to pay ABC agent J.K.. Riley for year - around employment. At the urging of commissioner Ralph Barnhart and chairman John Balfour, the minutes were ordered changed to state "to ask to consider". Last month, DeVane told the others that Alfred K. Leach, chairman of the local ABC board, had told DeVane that if the commissioners voted to endorse the extra enforcement cost than the ABC board would go along with it. However. Lester said last week that Leach hadn't intended to give DeVane that impression and there was still considerable opposition to the plan among the ABC board members. Cable TV Harrison Daniels, general man ager of N.C. Cable Television, appeared before the board and requested permission to begin service in the unincorporated areas of the county. The commissioners told Daniels that the county had no current regulations or controls on cable TV and that he did not need any permission from the board. Daniels said the company plans to expand service to areas within one and one-half mile radius of the city limits. He gave no date for the start of expansion. The board voted unanimously to pay S3 10 to pave a 16.8 cubic yard area adjoining the property at the rear of the Raeford United Methodist Church at the request of the Rev. Kelly Wilson. The property was originally church property but it was deeded to the city years ago and subsequently fell into the hands of the county for the nearby school. Commissioners approved the contracts for the solid waste disposal service and the ambulancc service after ordering some changes. A $50,000 performance bond was written into the waste disposal contract. DeVane and commis sioner James A. Hunt both com plained they had received reports that the ambulance service, now under contract to Harris Am bulance Service, could not be reached at night frequently and that ambulances did not respond as quickly as they should at times. The contract was changed to include a clause requiring "Im mediate response" and another change was made, striking out the use of the term "citizens", and substituting people. The last change was ordered after a discussion of the controversy last year concerning the status of patients at the Open Arms Rest Home. A question was raised at that time as to whether the residents of the rest home were to (See COUNTY BOARD, Page 15)